Imperial German Army

The Imperial German Army was the combined air and land forces of the German Empire that existed from 1871 to 1919, being formed in the aftermath of the unification of Germany. The imperial army had a strength of 500,000 troops in 1871, but it would rise to a strength of 13,500,000 troops during World War I in 1914-18. The Imperial German Army was deployed to regions across the world, including Namibia and Cameroon in Africa, China, and New Guinea, being sent on expeditions to add more lands to the empire. In 1914, it began its most famous war with its invasion of Belgium and France in Western Europe and Poland and the Russian Empire in Eastern Europe, leading to the start of the First World War. The war saw the Germans have many successes, especialy on the Eastern Front, but the Germans would be held back on the Western Front and eventually repelled by the British Army, French Army, and US Army, and the 11 November 1918 armistice ended the war. The Imperial German Army ended with the German Empire, as the Reichswehr became the military of the Weimar Republic after the end of the empire.